Summer Glow All Year Long With Charlotte Tilburys Unisex Glow

August 8, 2018August 8, 2018Leave a comment

Theres only two ways to go around this product. Either you hate it or you love it, in my case I love it. This is a high end product retailing about for $40- yea I know I gasped too. I bought this product because of Wayne Goss- a youtube/makeup artist. He raved about this product, I had to find out about the hype. So this is my first ever Charlotte Tilbury product so it kind of has a special place in my heart. First off, the packaging is beautiful- white and gold has always been my favorite design combinations. When I first applied it I was excpeting something else, too look a different way; I felt confused and angry. I appeared to be orange, discolored and weird!

This product is suppose to mimic a healthy glow, like you have been out in the sun all day and come home with a goddess like tan. Well that wasn’t the case for me, it was more like a bad spray tan. Fast forward a couple of months later, I decided to give it another go, and I realized the key to this primer is to wait. Ah, to wait, why didn’t I do that in the beginning? The longer it stays on the face the more it works it magic, it slowly morphes into a a similar color of your skin tone. Weird, I know… At first I came off orange and sun burnt, then you keep on massaging it into the skin it slowly starts to blend in effortlessly and gives you a sweet sun kissed look. I think maybe about 10 minutes in you will see a goddess like glow. But I don’t wear it just alone, I apply foundation on top, then all the magical goodness illuminates.

Straight out of the tube the product is white, white! Don’t be deceived my friends- begin rubbing it into skin and it transforms from white to a deep terracotta. My only issue is that it might not work so well on deeper and darker skin tones. Ah, sorry my beautiful dark skinned followers, this product might not be for you. It does work well on pale to mid-tone-middle-eastern-olive-toned skin type of gal. If thats not the case with you, let know.

I am 100% the heat from the skin-to-skin contact helps the product work better. As far as ingredients go, there is the inclusion of humectants and antioxidants like glycerin and vitamin E. So I do use this a primer, it works really well as one. To be honest I don’t see any improvements in the long run but it doesn’t claim that it should- just wanted to throw that out there.

I don’t just were this product alone, I do apply foundation on top and blend it out with a beauty blender. A sheer coverage is my best option when using the unisex glow; I don’t know why the name of this product is called unisex because most men don’t really wear moisturizers or primers to say the least. (The ones I know at least)

I love this product, its easy and its my secret ingredient to my bridal cleints!

Let me know if you have ever used this product and what was your first Charlotte Tilbury Product.

Attention Oily Skin Gals: The Porefessional Invisible Finish Mattifying Gel Review!

July 19, 2018July 19, 2018Leave a comment

If you are an oily type of gal then you must’ve been excited to click on this post. Trust me, I am just as excited to post this review, now get ready to throw away those blotting papers- okay don’t throw anything away unless you want to- now with that said lets begin this review!

Matte Rescue Photo Credit: Artistakay

This is the “Porefessional Matte Rescue Invisible-Finish Mattifying Gel” from Benefit Cosmetics. is a water-based gel primer with a matte finish. It minimizes the appearance of pores, absorbs excess oil for a natural matte finish and contains diamond powder to give it a soft-focus pore-blurring effect. Trust me when I tell you this, it works like magic on my oily skinned clients. I don’t have oily skin so this product isn’t a must for me, but for those who start producing oil within an hour really need this.

This product does contain glyceran, so it will help your makeup last longer and adhere better. Now the product description doesn’t state that it is a primer, more of a “gel”, but I consider this as a primer. I have used this on a variety of skin types -including my self- and this product is just amazing. I can only praise it greatness, no harsh criticism needed.This product retails for $28 and contains 1.6 oz/ 47 mL.

How to?

It works quite simply, just make sure you skin is freshly washed & apply it all over the face- or wherever you get oily. Wait 2-3 minutes then apply the foundation; usually you have to give primer’a some time to work its magic into the skin. If you are not a foundation type of gal, just use this gel/primer without any foundation, any way you wear it, it will work!

Let me know whats your favorite primer?

Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette Review- Another Fallout Issue?

June 25, 2018July 11, 2018Leave a comment

Welcome back, i took a little blogging break to focus on life…

Okay, lets get started, I initially purchased the Anastasia Beverly Hills “Soft Glam” palette as a present for my mom, she doesn’t own a lot of makeup and I thought this would be an amazing add on to her humble collection. As for me I wouldn’t have really purchased this product for myself- I have more then enough neutrals in my collection. I knew the warm colors would complimented my mothers skin ton perfectly, I’ve also read great reviews on it and the price point was pretty decent. She (Mama G) is a very simple women, so this palette was the perfect fit for her.

abh final 3

After a month I decided to check up on and see what she thought of the product, she told me to return it because its “too powdery” . I was in shock how can that be, she didn’t want it at all. I took it home and started to play around with the colors, testing them out with primer, concealer and how each shadow was with a different brush

Maybe, this is the same situation as the Subculture palette. I personally never owned it but after watching countless beauty influence’s on Youtube complain primarily about the formula that was enough to make my decision. Thank goodness for those few honest bloggers/youtubers.

So I didn’t want to return it and just kept it for myself. I mean how bad could this palette be?

Let start off with the shades, to my surprise these neutral shadows are work beautifully on every skin tone. I gave this palette a good go, on myself and my clients. The matte shades are more to the warmer side, with the exception of dusty rose, which is cool toned. My favorite shadows is Orange Soda & Burnt Orange; they are perfect for transitioning and adding warm underneath the eyes. There are some very pretty dusky mauve roses here combined with sultry browns, shimmering golds, browns, and peaches. All together there are 14 shades and this palette retails for $42, luckily this isn’t limited so no pressure on purchasing anytime soon. This Soft Glam Palette can be purchased at Macys & Sephora.

(Photos taken from www.macys.com)

The packaging is amazing, I love it- despite the fact it does get quite easily. (Sometimes I like to pick up the palette even when i am not using it to stroke the packaging. I love velvety feel if it – it has a relaxing feeling.)

Final Verdict:

This palette is amazing in so many ways but the biggest draw back is the fall out. It doesn’t fall apart when I dip my brush in it, but with one swoop there is a significant amount that can’t go unnoticed. Aside from the fallout, the colors are uber pigmented and blend out seamlessly. These eye shadows blend like a dream, seriously, its a no brainer when it comes to blending them. The pigments on every single shadow are intense, It comes with a brush, which in is pretty good, I like using it. The formula in this palette is very soft, sort of like room temperature butter. Which makes blending these shadows a dream, you really can’t mess up. This is my current favorite palette, I over look the fallout because this palette is really awesome! All the shades are beautiful and can work wonderfully on pretty much all skin tones. This is a great palette as long as you can over look the whole fallout issue, it’s worth it. The palette is sturdy, not to heavy nor to light, and comes with a brush, and it’s a great brush too!

My Favorite color is Mulberry it’s the perfect purple reddish shade to add into the outer crease to spice up your look.

(A side note : don’t be rough with it, or else it might break. )

Let me know if anyone else had the same issue with the fallout!

Coffee Monday Talk- 3 Simple Ways We Can Increase Our Happiness

June 4, 2018June 5, 2018Leave a comment

Photo Taken from Photoargus

Good Monday! Todays Coffee Monday Blog will be about Happiness.

Majority of us strive to be happy, it’s that inadequate feeling we get sometimes. There are a couple of ways we can attain happiness via shopping,- even if it’s the small things-traveling, starting a new relationship, ending a negative relationship, etc… All these things and more can really bring such a tremendous impulse of happiness but after a while that feeling fades then you move on to “now what?”. You see happiness doesn’t come after you get what you want, true happiness is something we constantly have to work on. It’s that feeling of feeling whole and complete regardless of our situations. It’s a tricky topic to talk about but I think i will dabble a little into how to create more happiness in your life. Here are 3 simple ways we can work on our happiness- key word is “work” its a work in progress. I am speaking for myself too. You can’t accomplish something until you believe you can do it. – So lets believe we can strive for true happiness.

Morning Prayer, Meditation & Gratitude: Starting your day off right is a fundamental key to a happier life. Taking 5 minutes in the morning to really appreciate the goodness in life, despite some your hardships. Because no matter the tough times you may encounter, you may not have a choice in how some things may turn out but you do have a choice in the way you react to it. Victor E Frankl quoted in his book Mans Search for Meaning – Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Our attitude is everything and when we have more gratitude in our everyday life it can increase our happiness tremendously. Another great way of maintaining gratitude everyday is the 5 Minute Journal.

Be Patient with Yourself- Have self compassion, even though things aren’t going right.Your mornings may started off crappy- you over slept, didn’t eat breakfast, spouse or kids driving you crazy- we’ve all been there once in a while. We cant control how some things play out, the truth of the matter is that we can’t we need to be patient with life and ourselves. I know its easier said then done, but practice being patient. It won’t come right away but with time it will help easier your problems. Let the past be the past, work on the present and await the future with a smile. Whatever your journey maybe be, take it step-by-step. Learn from your mistakes , you miss out on so much in life when you beat yourself up. Patience is key to discovering the beauty of life. Truthfully, I am not a patient person by any means but I try, try very hard some days- but maybe not hard enough, it’s a constant struggle. Having patience means being able to wait calmly in the face of frustration or adversity, so anywhere there is frustration or adversity—i.e., nearly everywhere—we have the opportunity to practice it.

Kindness– There is no better feeling then seeing someone smile, especially when its because of you. Sometimes when we focus to much on ourselves we become self centered and that can get us a far, but acts of kindness bring a joy will get us farther. We are very disconnected in this world of technology, the more we have the less we are social. So lets put down our phones and give each other our full attention, lets seek out the goodness in us all and strive to make each other smile.Lets be honest, its very hard to be nice all the time, especially if you know someone who can really press those “do no touch” buttons we all have. I read Dale Carnegie’s Book “How to Win Friends & Influence People” and it forever changed the way I communicate with people, and there was a part in his book that really moved me. “You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kinds words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a life time” We don’t realize the effect of our words, so lets try to spread kindness today.

Have a great start to your week!

Why Makeup Forever has the Best Metal Makeup Palettes!

June 1, 2018June 4, 2018Leave a comment

Ill never forget my first Z-palette, it was a birthday gift from my sister- I was so excited I started depotting everything, eyeshadows, bronzer, blushes that night. It was perfect for when I traveled to makeup clients and over just having my less bulk in my makeup storage.

All was well until I started purchasing Mac single shadows. I realized that they would fall out of the Z-palette. But they wouldn’t stick to the z-palette- turns out they have crappy magnets. So I purchased the Mac empty palettes but still wasn’t satisfied because I had all my shadows in two separate palettes. One big issue I had with both palettes was that the eye shadows always fell out! It was very frustrating, I was always fixing broken eye shadows, which got real messy and took time. Before I purchased I had done a lot of reviews and majority had great reviews. They did tweak the palette a little from the older version and raised the price. Ah… what a shame I came to late but what can I do? I waited till there was a sale and ordered the Makeup Forever Metal Palette but….the mac eye shadows still kept on falling out. Long story short the magnet on the back of the Mac eyeshadows sucks, I don’t know why but they do. Ugh… I had to replace all of the backs on them and wallah, all my single beauties fit in this XL Palette.

Don’t get me wrong both the Mac and Z-palette where great but I needed something much much stronger for traveling.

Review: The magnetic back on this palette is really strong, its all metal tin and has a see through top. It’s very durable and strong- you shouldn’t really throw it around to test it out, haha. It’s light weight and holds a great amount of shadows. The only problem I have with this palette is that it has this weird 1/2″ space between my regular sized eyeshadows so I have to piece them together in a honeycomb way. But that really isn’t an issue that would prevent me from purchasing more of these palettes. There really isn’t much to say about to it except that its great.

This palette is a labor of love, seriously.

I have accumulated all of these shadows over the past 3 years, so it took a defintely took a while to build up. But that’s a beauty of it, you slowly build up your own palette. Even if you are not a makeup aritst I always suggest to my friends who want to get the “best” without spending an arm and a leg on a palette. Go to MAC, Makeup Geek, Colour Pop, Luxie Beauty, Makeup Forever etc… there are endless options when it comes to companies that sell their own individual eyeshadows. I highly recommend the Makeup Geek or MAC cosmetics eyeshadows.

On the left side are MAC cosmetics eyeshadows. The larger pans are the MAKEUP Forever Eyeshadows which has discontinued, I emailed them several times but they changed around the formulas and pigments, so I can’t even compare. Sorry guys! On the right side the are the Buxom eyeshadows.

These currently are my favorite shadows that work well in my makeup kit.